Improvement in potato-digger



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EPHRAIM PHILLIPS, OI" NORTH BEAVER TOWNSHIP, PENNSYL- VA'NIA.

Letters Patent No. 87,197, dated. Februar/ry 23, 1869.

IMPROVEMENT IN POTATO-DIG-G-ER.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of the sama.

To all ywhom it mar/y concern Be it known that I, ErHRAIM PHILLIPs of North Beaver township, in the county of Lawrence, in the State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Potato-Diggers; and I do hereby.

declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the ac- 1 eoinpanying dra\vingsaud letters of reference marked thereon, making a part of this specification, in Which- Figure l is a plan View,l and. Figure 2, a side elevation. rIhis invention consists in the combination of a digger, for unearthilrg potatoes from thel hills whereithe)r p ingl of the fingers, and a falling-"through of the dirt.

grmv,y with tin gers curved like h orse-rake teeth, for separating the roots from the` soil which the digger takes;

' al d, one between each pair of fingers, which bars are furnished With branches, d', slanting backward, each 1v bar, with' its branches, constituting what I term a trail, and all the' trails assisting the lingers to more thorup: with' them, andi withy a trail, so: called, for more thorou=`c` lyV perform-ing the Work of removing the potaitoes from the dirt.

Tov enable those skilled in the amtto maire and. use

my invention, I new proceed toy describe its oonstrnef The digger is drawn straight through a row of potato-hills, and cuts under and lifts up a section of roots and soil combined, of a width regulated by the two half shovels b b, attached, one to each side piece ofthe frame in front ofthe digger, which shovels are some two inches l nearer together than the sides of the digger, and pare ofi' the sides of the row.

The mass of soil and roots lifted by the digger needs to be separated, and for this purpose I provide onr l or more fingers, c c c c, attached at their forward ends to the rear of the under side of the digger, and curved upward, and then downward, as shown, so that their rear ends scratch the ground, and thus cause a shak- Lhnxiliary to the fingers, I employ horizontal bars (l cogli-ly discharge their separating-function. The fingers' c are rigidly attached, while the trails (l are pito-ted to a rod running along the rear of the outter' and'niay be raised. or lowered at pleasure.

That I claim as new, and desire to secure by Lettersy Paten@ is- The eutterB,.in= combination with the lingers c and trails d, as and for the purpose described.

EPHRAIM PHILLIPS.

Witnesses Manns J. Monnsn, J. W. REYNOLDS; 

